Government skullduggery mixes thrillingly with SF invention and eco-concerns in this speculative tale.
In Heaton’s SF thriller, sinister forces converge on an environmentalist who holds the key to a teleportation technology with troubling side effects.
This novel, the second in a series, takes place in an alternative 2009, in which a groundbreaking United States president is in office—not Barack Obama, but another Black man, Jamal Williams, who is tasked with cleaning up the mess of an unnamed previous administration whose invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan collapsed the international banking system. With intel indicating that Saudi Arabia’s oilfields are secretly running dry, Williams is one of numerous players who approach the high-profile, well-heeled eco-activist Uma Jakobsdóttir. Readers of the previous installment of this series will recall that she is the daughter of the late physicist who developed revolutionary teleportation technology (called “LEAP”) meant to replace fossil fuel-dependent transportation. The new tech had a troubling, unforeseen side effect: LEAP portals, combined with supercomputers, can copy organic matter at the atomic level, allowing users—presumably rich and powerful ones—to make living backup clones of themselves, becoming functionally immortal. Fearing a nightmarish future of “ ‘[s]oulless creatures feeding off discarded atoms like vampires with no memory of their sins,’ ” Uma, six years earlier, attempted to discredit LEAP as a hoax perpetrated by an airline mogul. But President Williams and others have grasped the truth: It actually works. Uma is pressured by the White House to roll out LEAP to combat carbon emissions; in the shadows, liberated suicide-bomber fanatics from Gitmo, treacherous Deep State forces, and an assassination plot rachet the tension high and hold the reader rapt. The machinations and motivations here are a bit murkier than one might prefer, but the extrapolations of untested, paradigm-shifting technology keep the pages turning. An epilogue offers a tantalizing taste of the next installment.
Government skullduggery mixes thrillingly with SF invention and eco-concerns in this speculative tale.Pub Date: July 25, 2023
ISBN: 978-0956172037
Page Count: 412
Publisher: Rookwood Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Plenty of excitement for Clancy fans.
Chinese president Li Jian Jun plans a sneak attack on Taiwan, and it’s up to the Jack Ryan administration to stop him without going to war.
President Li announces a naval exercise, but his real plan is Operation Sea Serpent, the lightning reunification of Taiwan. His minister of defense, Admiral Qin Hâiyû, thinks the idea is crazy because a great number of people would die, but he can’t say so. Li is not a man to be challenged, and he’s already had one of his ministers executed. But Qin wants to stop the war before it begins. Perhaps he can get word to the Americans so they can cut off the mad scheme, and he’s troubled by whether his actions will make him a traitor or a patriot. A Western asset nicknamed the Spider helps facilitate his dangerous disappearance as he attempts to leave China, and authorities in Beijing don’t know if he’s been kidnapped or has defected. Meanwhile, the Ryan administration wants to get him safely extracted from mainland China. President Ryan orders that an American naval vessel will transit through the Strait of Taiwan, which the People’s Republic has blockaded. Will there be a bloody showdown that triggers a major war? So much can go wrong, and there are series regulars like John Clark and Ding Chavez at the tip of the spear. And there’s also Katie Ryan, a lieutenant commander with the Office of Naval Intelligence who’s deployed to Taiwan because she’s “one hell of an intelligence analyst” who “thinks outside the box.” She’s a “rising star” who refuses to trade on her relationship with her father, President Ryan. There’s not much violence, although there’s enough to call it a military thriller. One brave American is fading fast from a round to his chest, but he has time to smile about that “hot” Katie Ryan. (Yes, yes, we all like the Ryans.) The novel’s big question is not which nation wins, but whether they fight. Bravery and clear thinking will have to come from both sides. By the way, Jack Junior isn’t in this one—it’s Katie’s time to shine.
Plenty of excitement for Clancy fans.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593717974
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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